Michael O'Neill wants his players to put a smile back on the faces of Northern Ireland fans after a tough week in Belfast. Extreme weather conditions over the weekend forced the postponement of the World Cup qualifier against Russia on Friday night, and again the following afternoon, but that was far from the only problem experienced in the country.

The snow that settled on the Windsor Park pitch also led to thousands of homes suffering power cuts, city centre businesses being hit by the same problem and the closure of the runway at George Best Belfast City Airport.

Conditions have since eased at Windsor Park and the Irish Football Association is confident there will be no problems with Tuesday's Group F game against Israel.

Lingering snow was cleared this afternoon and Israel were given the green light to train at Windsor Park after a Fifa inspection. What is needed to complete the growing feelgood factor is a positive result. It has been too long since the national side left fans with that winning feeling – 12 games. But O'Neill knows what it means to the public when local sportsmen, such as golfing heroes Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke, succeed on the international stage.

"This week we've had power cuts and everything else that was going on in the country. There were a lot more severe things going on other than the fact we couldn't get a football match on," he said. "The weather got the better of us on this occasion. But I always think the players are fully aware and recognise the significance of a positive result.

"We see that with Ulster rugby, we see that with the golfers when they are successful and this is an opportunity for us for a good performance and a good result. If it brightens the nation, then that's a nice side-effect to have."

Given the unpredictability of the weather and the speed with which it deteriorated on Friday, all eyes will be on the skies until the players finally make it on to the pitch on Tuesday. But O'Neill does not anticipate another postponement.

The match referee, alongside FIFA officials, will make a planned inspection at 10.30am.

"I was at the pitch this morning – it's not wet and it's not sticky," said O'Neill who has had to be creative with training this week, making unexpected trips to Ballymena and Jordanstown in search of suitable synthetic pitches.

"In fact, it's nice and dry and it's as good as it was before the snow was on it. "The pitch is nice and firm, albeit slightl softer than it was when we trained on it on Thursday but we have no concerns about the pitch at all.